I've been to hundreds of concerts and seen most of the great legends, but I have to say that last nights show by Little Richard in Nottingham U.K., 28 April 2005, was by far the worst show I've ever seen by anyone. I understand that lots of fans will probably say he was great, and that this message may even be removed because its not following the usual fawning love for Richard, but I paid my ticket money and have to be honest about my feelings. Yes he's a legend but that doesn't mean he's beyond criticism. I thought some of the band were good, but everyone is there to see Richard and his performance was simply not good enough, especially considering that he charges more in ticket price than most artists who play this type of venue. It was unprofessional and not good value for money. I'm not just talking about the power cut that happened during the show - that can happen to anyone. It was the constant stop-starting and lack of flow of the whole night. I was in the front row and it still wasn't good. And the attitude of his 'people' to genuine fans even taking one photo was the worst I've ever seen. I didn't have a camera, but theres simply no need to treat fans so badly just because they want a photo. Especially during the autograph session afterwards, where fans were having to pay an extra £20 for something that used to be free, it would have been nice to allow that instead of treating it as if they were trying to steal his soul. Fair enough if people were trying to take loads of photos, but one? For personal use. Of course, his people were only doing what he had ordered. Most concerts at this size of venue are friendly and family orientated, with the occasional photo tolerated, especially if no flash. Its a shame that he chose to ruin what could have been a very friendly atmosphere by complaining about that both during and after the show. If he didn't want people to take photos then he shouldn't have been famous for the last 50 years. Without the fans there wouldn't be any concerts, so respect should be both ways, not all one sided.
Like I said, I know lots will disagree just because you're a big fan. Thats fine. But for me and many around me, the night could and should have been a lot better than this, and theres no way I'd recommend his live shows to anyone. He should remember that lots of his fans are still back where he began - not much money. And its not easy to pay for tickets. But we do it out of love for the artist and the music. I didn't feel much of that love given back last night. But I did feel a lot of cynical money grabbing. If they couldn't charge you for it, you couldn't do it. Simple as that.
To constantly embarrass genuine big fans simply for taking one photo was just wrong. What do they think people are going to do with those less than perfect photos? Sell them for millions? If he wants to create a less than happy atmosphere, and charge fans a lot for the displeasure, then its no surprise that the tour isn't a sell out. I guess other fans have experienced this side of him before and decided not to bother this time, and I can't blame them.
For a religious man, I didn't see much tolerance last night.
Wow! Sounds bad. None of those 1950s rockers were able to adequately duplicate their records live. I saw Chuck Berry once, and he was lousy. Same with Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis. The made great records. When it came to trying to recreate that atmosphere on stage, they failed. Read my article about Elvis. http://jimcolyer.com/papers/entry?id=58
